Chelsea's players departed the stunning new Cowboys stadium last night for London having secured the first trophy of what they hope will prove a glittering first campaign under Carlo Ancelotti. There are bigger priorities than the inaugural 2009 World Football Challenge yet, in defeating the Mexican side Club America in Dallas to maintain momentum from impressive wins over Internazionale and Milan, they will have drawn encouragement aplenty.

The zigzagging across the United States may have sapped energy, but Chelsea return home today far fitter than they left, with their captain's commitment to the club reaffirmed and the squad overseen by a manager who will have gleaned much over two weeks away with his players. Ancelotti will crave evidence of how his team fares under pressure in competitive fixtures, but this tour – marked by a wholeheartedly contested game against his former club, Milan, in Baltimore last Friday – has offered real glimpses of what Chelsea will offer in the campaign proper. So what, then, have we learned?

1) Tactically, Ancelotti intends to play a diamond in midfield, capped initially by Frank Lampard as the marauding playmaker with Deco and Salomon Kalou offered outings in the role against Club America last night. John Mikel Obi and Michael Essien are his first-choice midfield shields, though Michael Ballack may have had an opportunity to stake his claim for the role had he retained his fitness, and Deco had two outings in the position. There will be a pair of strikers – gone, apparently, are the days of 4-3-3 with Didier Drogba barging passage forward with only wide men for company – with the full-backs asked to supply the team's natural width. Luiz Felipe Scolari tried something similar a year ago but never really struck a balance between rip-roaring attack and defensive industry. The Italian in Ancelotti will not put up with frailties if the full-backs are caught too often up-field and the channels left exposed.

2) The team's play may prove far less direct than in recent seasons, with Ancelotti placing the onus on retaining possession in midfield, all neat triangles and overlaps, rather than seeking out Drogba's brawn and muscle through the middle. Inter and, at times, Milan seemed off the pace in coping with the slick approach, with Clarence Seedorf admitting he could already spy evidence of the Ancelotti effect taking hold of Chelsea. Whether Premier League opponents, starting with Manchester United in the Community Shield in under two weeks, find it quite so irresistible remains to be seen.

3) Manchester City could regret letting Daniel Sturridge slip away. The teenager actually stands more chance of making a mark at first-team level with Chelsea than he did at Eastlands given City's recent outlay on forwards. He impressed against Seattle Sounders with a debut goal and assist, unnerved Inter at times in California and should have added to his tally on tour against the Mexicans. Sturridge remains raw but, with his transfer fee still to be decided by a tribunal, he should prove a bargain.

4) Despite the lack of a marquee signing to date, Chelsea's squad retains its depth and quality, even with Joe Cole and Ballack back in Cobham undergoing rehabilitation from injury. Sturridge and Ross Turnbull are useful additions, the latter as a back-up goalkeeper, while Yuri Zhirkov – on the basis of his excellent debut against Milan – will offer balance, defensive surety and spring up-field whether he is employed at full-back or, more likely, in midfield. Deco, for now, and Ricardo Carvalho remain at the club, with the centre-half impressive and eager to put last season's toils behind him. The management had craved more flair, hence their interest in Franck Ribery, though Lampard – albeit in a different way – already appears a natural source of creativity and goals in the hole behind the forwards.

5) Andriy Shevchenko and Claudio Pizarro's days at the club are numbered. That is hardly a revelation given that each spent last season on loan away from Stamford Bridge. Yet the Peruvian's impact was negligible and the Ukrainian, despite a new haircut and a public insistence that he would like to stay, appears to be on the fringes. Ancelotti confirmed he did not anticipate the man he rated so highly at Milan remaining beyond the 31 August transfer cut-off. Others, most probably the youngsters Michael Mancienne, Sam Hutchinson, Franco di Santo and Scott Sinclair, are expected to move elsewhere on loan in search of first-team experience.

6) Ancelotti's English is improving though it remains a work in progress. He appeared exhausted and frustrated at times at his inability to explain himself fully, which is utterly understandable, though good humour generally shone through and his assistant Bruno Demichelis is providing invaluable assistance as a makeshift interpreter. There appears to be a real determination about Ancelotti to expand his vocabulary, however, and first impressions suggest he will not fall into the same trap as Scolari, whose English rather stagnated once competitive games came thick and fast.

7) The United States appears to have taken to Chelsea. This was the Premier League club's fourth visit to the country in five years for pre-season and, at last, they have made their mark. Chelsea shirts littered the considerable crowds in Seattle, Pasadena, Baltimore and Arlington where the team played. The gates were magnificent. Some 81,224 people attended the 2–0 victory over Inter, and 71,203 the tight 2–1 win over Milan in Baltimore. The Cowboys stadium was heaving last night with just over 57,000 watching on despite Mexico having played the United States a few hours earlier in the final of the Gold Cup. When the Chelsea players appeared on the astonishing 160ft by 72ft high-definition LED television screen suspended above the playing surface of this arena – the largest screen of its type with 30,000,000 light bulbs and built at a cost of £25m – prior to kick-off, even the Hispanics in the crowd bellowed their appreciation. This club is making an impression in these parts.

Given the crammed schedule and draining west-east-west travelling, that represents a fine use of two weeks away. Chelsea will be buoyed that John Terry has committed his future to the club despite Manchester City's attempts to lure him away, and that has added gloss to their pre-season, but they gleaned far more from the brief spell in the US. The players expect to be back next summer, most likely to defend the trophy won courtesy of Di Santo and Florent Malouda's late goals. They should receive a hospitable welcome.